


Burn me (with your love)

by My_Agony



Category: Archie Comics, Archie Comics & Related Fandoms, Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Cheryl Blossom Needs a Hug, F/F, penelope being a hatefull bitch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-08
Updated: 2018-04-08
Packaged: 2019-04-20 10:06:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14258646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/My_Agony/pseuds/My_Agony
Summary: And then there was Toni, Toni with her flirtatious smile and comforting words and burning touch. Toni who saw through her plastic smiles and bitchy attitude and Toni who didn’t give up. Cheryl yelled and laughed at her, but Toni didn’t give up.





	Burn me (with your love)

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry for possible mistakes, I'm tired and I didn't really check the spelling or anything.   
> Also, let me know what you think of it in the comment section.

Jason’s death was like a punch right to her heart. People didn’t- couldn’t understand how she felt, because even if they lost someone, there was always someone else, but for her there wasn’t. JayJay was the only one, besides Heather, who ever loved her, who she ever trusted, who she could be honest with, and then suddenly he wasn’t there anymore.

It felt like she couldn’t breath anymore, like she could only get just enough air to keep suffering for a bit longer. And then she decided that it was enough, that she couldn’t keep living like this.

Falling into the cold water of Sweetwater river felt like falling into a thousand needles, but it was still so much better than feeling nothing at all. There, under the thick ice, she wears she felt Jason’s warm hands touching her frozen skin and pulling her into the depth.

And then there was Archie, Archie and his bloodstained fists and warm mouth, breathing the life, she so desperatly tried to get rid off,  into her again. For a second she thought that this meant that there were still people who cared for her, who loved her, that there was a reason for her to keep suffering, to keep breathing.

She had wanted to start over, to cleanse herself of all the darkness in her life. So she burned Thornhill, she set the heart of all her misery and pain aflame.

Her mother had yelled at her, about how it should have been her instead of Jason, about how she had always known that her daughter was crazy. But Cheryl hadn’t listened, she had been too intrigued with the fire. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen, flames twice as high as Thornhill itself reaching for the stars above her.

But things didn’t change. She still felt like there was something heavy placed on her chest, and she still couldn’t breath, and it still wasn’t enough. So she let herself drown again, drown in vicious comments and other people’s hurt. Because that was the only thing that made her feel better, knowing that other people were hurt and in pain too.

And then Nick had come, his fancy suits and warm smiles a well apreciated distraction. So she accepted his arm and glass of champaign, without second thought. And she didn’t ask questions, not when she got that weird, fuzzy feeling, not when he led her up to his room and not when he threw her on the bed.

Her mind was filled with images of Heather and Jason and quiet whispers of adoration. She didn’t even notice when Veronica and the Pussycats stormed in and took Nick out. The first thing she did notice was Josie and her warm eyes and the light behind her illuminating her like an angel.

Josie became an obsession, Cheryl wanted to feel that kind of love Heather and JayJay had given her again, so she gave her drawings and a heart to try to explain her feelings. But she had seen the looks on Josie’s face and she spent that night above the toilet, trying to empty her stomach of all the disgust and loathing she felt for herself, because she had been responsible for that look.

And then there was Toni, Toni with her flirtatious smile and comforting words and burning touch. Toni who saw through her plastic smiles and bitchy attitude and Toni who didn’t give up. Cheryl yelled and laughed at her, but Toni didn’t give up.

And then that night at the cinema, Cheryl did. She gave up on lying and pretending, and together they broke the walls around her heart stone by stone. And when she cried and told her how she felt, Toni didn’t leave, didn’t tell her to stop nagging. All she did was take her hand and say: “You are sensational”. And for a second Cheryl believed her.

The next few days were filled with warm eyes and sincere laughter and Toni. She was there at school when Cheryl couldn’t talk with anyone else, she was there at the other side of her phone when Cheryl couldn’t sleep at night and she was there at the willreading when she needed a hand to hold.

And after she lost consciousness and her devious mother had kicked Toni out of Thistlehouse, Toni had waited outside, in the rain and the cold, just because she wanted to know Cheryl was okay. And that evening Toni ate with her and her family, and her mother tried so hard to scare her away, but Toni wasn’t scared. Toni said she didn’t mind, said Cheryl was worth it.

At the sleepover she told everyone how scared she was, how lost and alone she felt. Because even her mother and uncle, her family, didn’t love her. They wanted her death. And everyone said they were so terribly sorry, but Toni said nothing, she only took her hand an wiped away her tears. But in her eyes Cheryl could see how scared she was, scared that Cheryl would get hurt.

That night Cheryl couldn’t sleep, too distracted by Toni’s breathing and her own heart, beating too loud and way too fast. Cheryl had been honest, she told her how she only wanted her there, how she needed her there. And then they almost kissed, Cheryl felt Toni’s burning hands on her skin and her soft breathing on her lips, and it had been so perfect. And then they were interrupted by a loud crash.

Nana Rose’s fall only confirmed Cheryl’s suspicions. Toni held her hand when the ambulance came, held her hand when Cheryl told her she was afraid she was next. Toni offered her to sleep in her trailer, but Cheryl declined, too afraid that if she let Nana Rose alone for too long, her mother would find a way to end what she started.

She knew when her mother came for her, that it was her turn, her turn for getting rid of. Penelope told her that this was all her fault, that she never wanted her daughter to become this psychotic monster. And cheryl cried, cried because she wanted to believe Toni for saying that she wasn’t, but it was so, so hard.

The more her mother looked at her like she was a monster, the more she started forgetting the way Toni looked at her, with eyes filled with adoration and wonder, like she was worth all the trouble in the world.

First she believed the sisters for saying that they would help her, but when they showed her the syringe and that horrible loveless smile, it became obviously clear that she wouldn’t.

The following days all she could think about was Toni, Toni, Toni. It was the only thing in this place that kept her from going mad, the thought of her hands and lips on Cheryl’s. But everytime the sisters washed her with their holy water, she felt like they removed a bit of the memory of Toni’s burning fingers and eyes on her skin.

And thenTonie was there again, she hadn’t forgotten, hadn’t moved on. First Cheryl thought it was all-in her head, because it wouldn’t be the first time. Her nights were filled with imagined whispers of “you are sensational” and happy, warm laughter.

But this time Toni was real, she embraced Cheryl so tightly she swears she could feel Toni’s heart beating inside her heaving chest. And then Toni took Cheryl’s face in her hands, her fingers so soft and careful, so different from the sisters’ clawing hands. Toni took her face and looked at her like she was the only thing that mattered and then they kissed.

It reminded Cheryl of the flames that coloured the sky the night she burnt Thornhill, just as breathtaking and worth all the struggle. Toni’s lips were even softer than her hands, and suddenly she forgot everything that had led up to this moment. The only thing that still existed was Toni, and her soft lips and burning touch.

Reality came crashing down again when Veronica interrupted them, followed by the clicking of the sisters’ heels in the corridors. They ran, Cheryl didn’t know to where, but Toni held her hand, and she trusted Toni with her life, so she just ran towards were Toni pulled her, away from the nuns.

The outside air and the moonlight on her face felt heavenly after all those days in that dark cell. It felt even more heavenly with Toni’s hand in hers.

 The whole drive to Veronica’s house was vague, the only thing she clearly remembers is the smell of leather and coffee and Toni’s arms around her.Veronica gave her one of her spare rooms, insisting she slept there, away from devious mothers and those evil nuns.

Toni sleeps beside her, one arm swung over Cheryl’s waist. She looks beautiful like this, without worries and doubts. Cheryl kisses her forehead.

“Thank you”, she whispers, “for everything”.


End file.
